Wall construction for a building



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United States Patent O 3,470,665 WALL CONSTRUCTION FOR A BUILDING Wilbur M. Perrault, 9000 NW. Cornell Road, Portland, Oreg. 97229 Filed May s, 1967, ser. No. 636,294 Int. Cl. E04b N343, 2/70; E04c 3/30 U.S. Cl. 52--278 1 Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLGSURE Wall construction for a building including upright panels mounted in edge-tO-edge abutting relation, elongated upright posts mounted on the outside faces of the panels along and overlapping the lines of abutment of adjacent panels, and plural vertically-spaced stringers mounted on the inside faces of the panels with the stringers disposed at right angles to the posts. The stringers extend continuously across the lines of abutment of the panels. Plural hangers are provided which are mounted on the floor structure of the building, and which support the posts, and through the posts support the panels and stringers.

This invention relates to a building construction, and more particularly, to a unitary prefabricated wall structure for a building, and means for mounting the wall structure in place on the floor of the building.

In recent years the prefabrication `of parts and sections for buildings has played an increasingly important role in the construction industry. Among other things, prefabrication reduces costs, permits work to proceed even during bad weather, and facilitates construction at remote sites. Additionally, prefabricated parts offer even a relatively localized contractor the opportunity to expand his business by marketing and shipping such parts to distant customers.

With prefabrication, there are a number of important factors to consider. Te begin with, a resulting building, to be acceptable, must obviously meet building code requirements regarding strength and stability. Thus, the various prefabricated parts or units that make up the building should each individually be strong, and additionally, should be readily joinable to form an assembly of parts which is also strong.

Further, and in order to simplify and expedite construction, the parts required for a building should be easy to manipulate and join, and should be held to a minimum number. Thus, the parts should be relatively small, and light enough for one or two men to handle easily. Yet the parts should be large enough so that relatively large portions of the building can be erected quickly.

Additionally, the parts should be easy to pack and inexpensive to ship, particularly where they must travel to distant building sites. Long distance shipping charges are often ybased on volume rather than weight, and thus, the parts should be capable of being packed together fairly densely with little waste space between adjacent parts.

A general object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a novel prefabricated wall structure for a building which takes the above-indicated factors into account in a highly practical and satisfactory manner.

More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide such a wall structure where the various parts are each individually strong, and are easily joinable to form a strong unitary outside wall for the building.

3,470,665 Patented Oct. 7, 1969 Another object is to provide such structure wherein the parts are small enough and light weight enough to be handled easily by a single person, yet large enough so that relatively large portions of a wall can be assembled quickly.

A further object is to provide structure of the type so far described where the parts can readily be packed for shipment with little waste space.

The parts contemplated herein, as assembled, include panel members which are placed in side-to-side relation with edges abutting to form large expanses of a wall, posts which are disposed upright along the lines of abutment of adjacent panels on the outsides of the panels, such posts being joined to the panels, and plural, elongated, vertically-spaced stringers which are mounted on the inside faces of the panels with the stringers disposed at right angles to the posts and extending continuously across the lines of abutment of adjacent panels. The stringers and posts together form a rigid box-like framework which joins the panels to form a strong, unitary wall.

The panels, posts and stringers for a building are easily precut and prepared for shipment as units to a building site. Such parts are readily packed closely together with little waste space between the parts. Moreover, these parts may be cut to sizes which may easily be carried and manipulated by a single person. Additionally, with construction as provided herein, the number of parts required to assemble a given wall expanse is minimized.

A further feature of the wall structure outlined is that a resulting wall has a pleasing exterior appearance.

Another object is to provide such a wall structure where the prefabricated parts therefor may be prepared from readily available materials.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide novel support means for supporting a wall. More specifically, the support means contemplated comprises novel hangers which are mounted at spaced intervals on the floor of a building and which support the bases of the posts that form part of a wall, as contemplated herein. Such hangers are preformed and mounted on the floor at appropriate locations. They greatly simplify and speed the connection of a wall and floor.

These and other objects and advantages attained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description which follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view illustrating a building including wall structure `constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation illustrating a portion of the front wall of the building of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken generally along the line 3 3 in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view, on a larger scale than FIG. 3, illustrating a corner construction where the front wall and an end wall of the building meet.

Turning now to the drawings, and referring to FIGS. l through 3 together, indicated generally at 10 is a portion of a building including a corner 10a. The building further includes floor structure 12, and front and end wall structures 14, 16, respectively constructed according to the invention.

The floor structure includes a oor covering 18, which may be made of any suitable materials such as sheets of plywood, and a framework 20 disposed beneath and supporting the floor covering. Framework 20 is suitably mounted on top of girders, such as those shown at 22, 24,

which are disposed along the margins of the building. The girders, in turn, are supported on top of a concrete foundation 26.

Wall structure 14 includes plural, upright, planar panels 30, 32, 34, 36. The panels are disposed in side-to-side relation, with marginal portions thereof substantially paralleling and abutting one another. As can be seen clearly in FIG. 1, such panels occupy a substantially common plane.

Mounted on the outer faces of the panels, along and overlapping the lines of abutment of, or joints between, adjacent panels, are elongated upright posts, such as posts 38, 4i), 42. More specifically, post 3S extends along the joint etween panels 30, 32, post 40 along the joint between panels 32, 34 and post 42 along the joint between panels 34, 36. The posts may be secured to the panels in any suitable manner, as by nailing. As can be seen clearly in FIG. 3, which shows post 38 and panel 30, the bottom ends of the posts are flush with the bottom edges of the panels.

Mounted on the inner faces of panels 30, 32, 34, 36, and extending continuously across each of the panels and across the joints between adjacent panels, are elongated vertically-spaced stringers 44. As seen in FIG. 2, the stringers are mounted with their longitudinal axes disposed at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axes of posts 38, 40, 42. The stringers are secured to the panels in any suitable manner, as by nailing. The stringers and posts together comprise a box-like frame joining panels 30, 32, 34, 36, and cooperating with the panels to form a rigid unitary wall.

End wall structure 16 is constructed in substantially the same manner as wall structure 14. Thus, the former includes panels, such as panels Si), 52 which are similar to the previously-described panels, posts, such as post 54, corresponding to the posts of wall structure 14, and stringers 56 which correspond to stringers 44.

Between their ends, the wall structures of the building are supported on floor structure 12 through hangers, or support means, such as hanger 58 (FIG. 2, 3), which are distributed about the building, and which support the bases f the posts in the wall structures. The hangers are substantially the same in construction, and considering hanger 58 which supports post 38, it includes an elongated central portion SSa that extends downwardly along the outside of the oor structure, an upper end portion SSb joined to the central portion and extending inwardly over the outer marginal edge of the floor structure, and a lower end portion 58C which projects laterally outwardly from the oor structure and supports the base of post 38. Hanger 53 further includes an upwardly turned flange 58d joined to the outer extremity of end portion 58C which prevents the base of the post from shifting outwardly of the building. The hanger is provided with suitable nail holes, such as those shown at 60 in FIG. 2, which enable the hanger to be nailed to the oor structure and to the base of the post.

Considering now how the ends of wall structures 14, 16 are joined and supported at corner 10a of the building, and referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 4, a corner hanger 62 (FIG. 4) is provided which is mounted as shown on floor structure 12. Hanger 62 comprises a pair of elongated, upright central portions 62a, 62h which fit around the corner of the floor structure, an upper end portion 62C which extends inwardly from the front of the building over floor covering 18, and an outwardly projecting lower end portion 62d joined to central por tion 62b. Part 62e is provided with nail holes 64 through which nails may be driven to secure the hanger to the oor structure. Similar nail holes 66 are provided in part 62d.

Mounted on lower end portion 62d of hanger 62 is an elongated, upright corner post 68. As can be seen in FIG. l where the post is viewed on end, the same has an elongated, right-angled corner channel 68a which extends along the length of the post, and which gives the post a somewhat L-shaped cross section. The post is mounted with its faces which define the corner channel disposed snugly against the outside faces of panels 30, 50. Post 63 may be secured to such panels and to the hanger, in any suitable manner, as by nailing. Similar corner posts and corner supporting hangers (not shown) are provided at the other corners of the building.

Depending upon the size of the building, the wall structures described may be constructed to have an appropriate height, and may be joined in any suitable manner to roof structure for the building. If it is desired to provide a door or a window in a wall, such may be mounted in any suitable manner in all or part of the space that would normally be occupied by a panel.

It will be apparent that with the wall construction described herein, there are a number of important advantages which are obtained. Once a oor for a building has been constructed on a foundation, walls for the building may be assembled and mounted in place on the oor relatively quickly and easily. Hangers to support the wall structures are mounted in place on the oor around the outside of the building, and successive panels and posts are mounted on the hangers'and nailed together. When the panels and posts along a given wall are in place, stringers are nailed to the inside faces of the panels in the manner illustrated.

Construction can progress rapidly since only a small number of parts are required for a wall, and since each single panel forms a relatively large part of a wall expanse. The hangers employed herein greatly simplify mounting of a wall on the floor. The posts and stringers of a wall, which are disposed at right angles to one another, form a rigid box-like frame which, together with the panels, forms a strong unitary structure.

With the construction described herein, an outside wall s produced which has a pleasing exterior appearance. Also, where a building is to be used as a vacation home, or a storage unit, the appearance of the inside surface of the walls may be entirely satisfactory.

As a further advantage, wall structures according to the invention may be made from readily available materials which can easily be precut to proper size with minimal effort. While the sizes of panels, posts and stringers are, of course, not limited, satisfactory buildings have been constructed using 4 x 8 sheets of plywood for the panels, 4 x 6" lumber for the corner posts, 4 x 4" lumber for the other posts, and 2 x 4 lumber for the stringers.

The parts described herein for a wall structure are easily packed in disassembled form for shipment, with little waste space resulting between 'adjacent parts. Thus, shipping costs are minimized where such are based on the volume of shipping space required. Additionally, the parts used for a wall structure are each individually of such a size that ordinarily one person can easily handle the parts. Thus, on a construction site, special handling equipment is not required.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a building including a floor:

a rigid wall assembly,

and plural spaced hangers supporting said wall assembly at points spaced on said floor,

said wall assembly including plural upright planar panels disposed in side-by-side abutting and coplanar relation, and a frame interconnecting and unitizing said panels, said frame comprising elongated upright posts fastened to the outside faces of adjacent panels in regions adjacent the joints therebetween, and plural elongated substantially horizontal stringers fastened to the inside faces of the panels, each stringer extending continuously between and across joints between successive adjacent panels,

said hangers having fixed connections with and hanging from said floor, and each hanger having a fixed 5 6 connection with and supporting the base of a post in FOREIGN PATENTS said frame thus to anchor adjacent panels to which 7,959 5/1915 Great Britain.

the post is fastened to the oor through the hanger.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner References Cited 5 s. D. BURKE III, Assistant Exammer UNITED STATES PATENTS 753,467 3/1904 Bordner 52--702X U.S. Cl. X.R. 2,881,877 4/1959 Olsen 52-492 X 52-235, 283, 702 1,248,343 11/1917 Krantz 52-278 X 

